Barren Wasteland
by Petty Officer First Class Boo
Summary: Sergeant Rupert Green is on a quest to find his loved one a mist the first few years of Emergency. Will he find his loved one or will he find charred remains? OC.


**Author's Note: This is something I've been cooking up since playing the past few Gears game, I hope you guys enjoy it read and please review.**

**Disclamer: I own these characters but not the game Gears of War itself.**

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><p><span>Barren Wasteland<span>

Thaw , A.E. 1

Staff Sergeant Rupert Green

28th Royal Tyranian Special Forces

0235 Hours

Having walked over six miles from the city of Andius from where my squad was formerly assigned to cover the retreating civilians, I paused at a gas station alone in the desolate thawing winter. The Locust were far and few in between along with the untrustworthy Stranded littered among every single place left with supplies. My stomach growled, yearning for food. Armed with only the Mark 1 Retro Lancer, a Snub pistol and a sharpened combat knife, I ventured towards the gas station in efforts of finding food. I raised my Lancer to ready myself as my left hand gripped the door. So far no shadows and no suspicious sounds. Slowly sneaking inside, I found the entire gas station empty and the shelves littered with items on the floor. Beef jerky, water and a few other hard to find condiments were still available at least. With the front door locked and the room secured, I pooled together all I could find and eat walking towards one of storage rooms of the station where I could sleep securely. I found a thick door with a ventilated room near the rear of the station and situated myself inside. Ripping open the plastic wrap of the jerky, I munched on the meat joyously as it was the only meal I had feasted on in days surviving only with three water canteens. A cold wind escaped through the slightly open metal door failing to chill me as I donned the heavy version of the COG armor type attached with extra armor and a secondary backpack that made it look like a hump. The standard vision obstructing helmet was replaced with a red beret worn by special operations unit of the COG government during peacetime. Gripping another stick of beef jerky in my mouth, I ripped out the giant magazine of the retro lancer. Flicking out ten rounds from the metal box, I groaned at the thought of having only a few magazines left on me. The Snub pistol was fully loaded with another ten magazines still unused on my web belt if I ever needed it. I kicked the door close and locked it before pulling out a small slightly faded photograph from one of the armor's compartment.

"Jessica." I whispered rubbing the woman's face with a gloved thumb.

She had shoulder length hair and held a pile of textbooks in her arms. A smile came across my face as I looked at the only thing driving me on. The search for her was long and arduous as she was in the city of Jannermount where she studied at the local university. I met her almost by chance as I was a new soldier in the late Pendulum War looking for Professor Neil Graham working on a theory on a lightmass bomb. I didn't run into her once or twice but thrice as I arrived in the city. She was waiting for her sister while I came of the train looking like a tourist in heavy armor. She approached me asking who I was looking for and directed me to the nearest exit with directions to the university. Once again, I was lost in the industrial city roaming around when I bumped into her at the local convenience store where I was about to ask for directions. With a small giggle at my ability to get lost easily she brought me up to the door step of Jannermount University and to Professor Graham who provided me with quarters within the dorms of the institution. I found my way to the dorm eventually and got lost on my way towards the cafeteria, where I met Jessica for my final time. She guided me to the canteen and committed her time to helping the lost fresh out of boot camp soldier find his way around the giant town. The picture was taken a year after we started dating. Jessica was carrying a stack of heavy books and instead of being the good gentlemen that I was, I snapped a picture of the poor girl before helping her out. I let out a small chuckle as I reminisced the times we were in love. Placing the picture back in its safe armor compartment, I pulled off my beret and placed it on top of the Retro Lacner's Gut-Puncher grenade launcher mount. Closing my eyes, I was instantly asleep after two long days of constant walking and quickly drifted to sleep.

I remembered that day clearly when my team had been mascaraed by the Locust Horde. We were the last line of defense on Emergency Day when the civilians were evacuating from the city of Anduis. A bridge connecting the two rivers together as cars were desperately trying to escape the onslaught. A cool breeze fluttered by me, carrying with it the smell of burning gunpowder and blood. The Locust ran at the civilians from the emergency holes littered throughout the city dotted with smoke, destroyed buildings and dead corpses. The city gates were open as civilians continued to flood out from the giant metal doors. My body twitched as my sniper, Corporal Randy Jackson was shot in the neck from a lucky bullet. He fell down from the top of the bus where he made a small barricade to block against stray bullets. The next men was hit, my demolition specialist, Ivan Keller slumped onto the sandbag fortification from a bullet hole in his head. With three men left in my squad and the limitless horde of thick skinned creatures moving forward, we were in a full retreat. I ran behind my squad as the bullets whizzed through the air with most killing the defenseless civilians running away from the threat. The shrill screams of children, women and men haunted me for the nights to come. The images of humans corpses dead on the cold ground with their eyes wide open staring into the sky never left my mind. Suddenly an explosion shook the bridge we were trying to defend and shook me from my nightmarish sleep. I bolted up drenched in sweat as there was a slow but persistent banging on the door. My hand went to my rifle as I shoved the supplies into my armor's storage hump on my back. The safety was always off and my finger on the trigger. I gripped the door handle tightly unlocking it. I slammed the door backwards and lifted the rifle up to my eye. On the other side was a single man with two women and three children. The man was aged and a boltok pistol hung from his waist as he carried a crowbar trying to witter the lock down. The two women were presumably the mothers of the children as they pulled the young boy and two young girls into their embrace. The man held his hands up in the air, my bayonet poised just a few inches from his face.

"Don't shoot!" The old man yelled, his voice wheezy and dry.

"We just wanted some food and water!" He explained as I looked at his green eyes.

"There's still more in the store, why don't you look around?" I grunted back.

"It's picked clean." The man stated as I inched forward walking into a small corridor just to see a vehicle and the store still full of supplies.

I saw a blur as the man's hand dropped to his waist reaching for his pistol. My finger instinctively squeezed the trigger dumping two bullets into the man's torso, killing him. Even with the Stranded people, no one can be trusted. I shifted my aim to the women as the children cowered in their arms. I moved cautiously picking up the Boltok pistol and holstering it in my web belt. With a truck there was bound to be more as I spied a rear exit. Shouting was heard outside the small roadside store. I looked to the women who had fear in their eyes and so did the children.

"Don't move. I won't shoot unless you force me to." I ordered walking backwards slowly.

"Wait!" One of the women yelled as she strode towards me.

"Take us with you!" She stated, walking up to me.

"The children are scared and these men are using us as meat shields, you can't expect us to stay with these barbarians!" She pleaded as I aimed my rifle towards her.

"No, you'll only slow me down. Its every man for themselves." I grunted gripping the door and swinging it forward.

I turned around to see a man with a Gnasher shotgun on the other side. His eyes went wide as my training kicked in. With a trust of the rifle, I lifted the man up as the blade sank deeper into his gut. He gasped trying to speak with only croaks coming out. I threw him to the side and grabbed his shotgun holstering it on my back. With no one in sight, I quickly searched the body finding only a few shells for his weapon before stepping out into the frigid air. Sneaking around the back of the building I found two men searching the right of the station with two women and children. These Stranded were the lowest class of men and often would do anything to survive. Starving children and using women as meat shields weren't the worst things they would do but torture them just to kill time was. I brought the rifle to aim and lined up the shot. With a single crack of the rifle, a bullet hole punched through both of the man's heart nearly missing the women. They gave out a short yelp as the Stranded hit the ground without so much as a scream dead before they even got there. Their now frenzied remainder came rushing for their friend. The Lancer barked thrice as it downed three men armed with weapons. The two women quickly armed themselves with the newly issued Mk2 Lancer equipped with the chainsaw. They closed their eyes firing the heavy and unfamiliar weapon just to completely miss me and waste precious ammunition. I closed the distance between the women and disarmed them of their weapons, taking out the magazine and slotting them on my web belt. The women huddled together with their children only the spring clothing to protect their bodies as the sun started to rise from the horizon.

"Please, take us with you." The woman from inside the store pleaded once more as I stood up, looking at the pitiful group of children.

"Alright fine. But, if you slow me down I won't hesitate to leave you behind." I stated plainly and racked the Lancer's bolt.

"Thank you, thank you, we won't forget this!" She murmured kissing the children on their heads.

"Grab the clothes from the dead men and grab the weapons. We need to pack everything we can get." I ordered as the women nodded, the young boy with the dirty blonde hair and dirt ridden face staring at me.

"You okay kid?" I asked the rays of sun hitting the side of his face.

"M-my father was a Gear." The boy spoke up finding courage to speak.

"Oh yeah? Where?" I replied crouching down to the boy.

"In the city of Tollen! I think he was with the 31st Royal Tyran Infantry." The boy explained excitedly as I chuckled for once in a long while.

I stood up taking a look at now the sufficiently clothed women and children. Waving the small group on we started our journey towards Jannermount lying only fifty eight miles due East of our position. Two smaller towns were in between and were probably ransacked by the Locust. With the roads no longer safe, I stuck to the hills and forest. Only the skies of red were above us and the trail of massacre littering the land around us, the Locusts or Mother Nature would be the death of us all if we didn't make it to the nearest town.


End file.
